Michael Hibbard

All about the books I write, along with random thoughts, and babbling.

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Apocalypse? Perhaps.

It has been a very long time since I’ve had the time to blog. After my spaces account was shut down, I hadn’t had time to set up a new wordpress blog, and get back into the zen of blogifying my brain. But today, I feel compelled to put out my thoughts for everyone else to digest.

As 2012 approaches, every crack pot in the world has come up with some sort of vision, theory, justification, math equation, quantification and pontification about the end of the world, (and/or the Mayan prophecy). From the dawn of humankind, we have prophesied some sort of end to our existence here on planet Earth, but for what reason? Sure, the sun will eventually burn out, first swelling into a red giant, consuming most of the inner planets, then deflating into a glistening white dwarf. And yes, this will most certainly kill everyone still living on the planet. And considering we’ve cut all our spending on space exploration, for the time being, we won’t be finding any methods of leaving the planet any time soon – so we are left with our fears of annihilation.

We have become arrogant on so many levels — too arrogant considering how fragile we are, and how dangerous the universe is. At any moment, the sun can (and has before) unleash a violent flare that could easily change the course of our history. There are so many ways to die in the universe, so many things we can’t ever prevent. We scurry from place to place, most of us blissfully ignorant of the fact that at any moment, without warning, it can all end. Remember the dinosaurs? One day they’re happily eating leaves (and each other), then *BAM!* they are consumed in a fireball that engulfs the planet, nearly extinguishing all life on the planet. Nearly.

I was amused and angered by the ravings of Harold Camping and his disastrous miscalculation of the end of the world, which he had convinced his followers was May 21, 2011. But as you know, the end did not come and many people left their homes, families and jobs to obey the ravings of a madman turned prophet, who had already been wrong before (not once but twice!). Despite this failure, he still persists in his message that the “Spiritual Rapture” had occurred, and the physical rapture was on October 21st, 2011 — which we also know, has come and gone. He’s already taken all his followers money and misled them to the point where they must live the rest of their lives, knowing they were misled by a fool. And so many fools have come before him.

Is there an apocalypse coming? Well what exactly is an apocalypse? If you take the literal definition, it means “total destruction”. If you take the biblical meaning, it is “a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception” or “lifting the veil”. So regardless of how we define it, an apocalypse has happened many times before and will happened again. But it doesn’t have to be something occult or paranormal, such as the wrath of god, or the zombie plague. It will probably be something fairly normal, yet greatly disregarded – like the sun, an asteroid, or the collapse of the technology infrastructure.

So why am I babbling about all this? Because there is a simple fact we all forget — it can all end at any moment. Which means you can only be sure of the moment you’re in, the moment you are living in right now. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my life thus far is the Zen idea of enjoying “Right Now”. I am just as guilty as everyone when it comes to this. We are always looking to the horizon, instead of right around us. Sure, we must plan to some extent, but to what extent?

I don’t want to look forward to the end of the world. I don’t want to worry about an apocalypse. I want to live my life living happily in each moment. And that is probably one of the most difficult things we as humans have to learn. Living in each moment, when I actually get to do it, is really quite awesome. I get glimpses of it in my life, but it is not something I can sustain on a regular basis. I am working towards it, but we all have to work towards it. If we all worked together on living for now, we wouldn’t have the problems we have today that threaten our world, and make some people long for the end. [I’ve got my money on Zombie Apocalypse Scenario though]

So the question ultimately becomes, “If it isn’t fun, then why are we doing it?”